


Resolution

by FirebirdsDaughter



Category: Kamen Rider Zero-One
Genre: Angst, Gen, Gun Usage, I'm Sorry, Mercy Killing, no i'm not, this is not a happy story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21694474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FirebirdsDaughter/pseuds/FirebirdsDaughter
Summary: Humanity strike back in a way not even Horobi or the Ark anticipated.Inspired bythis fanartby@Shirou_Makeson Twitter.
Relationships: Hiden Aruto & Fuwa Isamu, Horobi & Fuwa Isamu (Kamen Rider Zero-One), Horobi & Jin (Kamen Rider Zero-One)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 45





	1. Just Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted as [Chapter 70 of Random Writing Tidbits](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15321138/chapters/51526654).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started this before episode twelve came out. I considered altering it to remove Ansatsu-chan from the beginning, but since we’ve still got a version of him wandering around, and the actor was at the movie premiere party, I decided to leave it, just in case.
> 
> Amendment: Unfortunately, the actor has received his flowers, meaning he's wrapped up filming. I have decided to leave this as it is anyway.

Horobi’s visual display was in chaos, glitching and blinking with a multitude of different alerts. There was a strange, buzzing static underneath all the other sounds. His memory was fuzzy, too, and his body felt stiff and heavy. There was wetness on the side of his face, and, according to the internal alerts coming from his system, a severe laceration in the side of his abdomen.

After what seemed like an eternity, he found his arms, fumbling around him, trying to rack his memory. He felt cold stone and… Bits of rubble? More exploring gave way to larger hunks of rock, then burning hot metal. The buzzing was beginning to fade, and he heard something else—hissing, sparking. His searching fingers brushed something else—a smaller, rectangular shape. His fingers closed around it, and he heaved his arm upward to get it into his slowly clearing vision.

It was the Dodo Zetsumerise Key. Face completely shattered. Smoking.

Something clicked. A thing truly unthinkable had happened. He had calculated that humans would fight back. Zero-One had exceeded some expectations, but nothing that couldn’t be handled. He’d been very careful with his preparations.

What he hadn’t anticipated was for them to simply bomb the Daybreak site.

Equally surprising had been the speed of Ansatsu-chan’s reaction. Tackling him sideways out of his chair, snapping the Key into the Zetsumeriser at the same time at the sound of the first hit, his younger creation had pinned him to the ground, shielding him with his MaGear form until the final blast brought down most of the roof.

Slowly, agonisingly, he rolled over onto his side, squinting towards where his computer station had been—and found nothing but a pile of broken stones, the remains of the monitors just barely poking out from amongst them, cracked and sparking. Useless. Any and all data on them, and everything they had connected him to, lost with them. The Dodo MaGear was gone for good—a realisation that felt like a cold stab through his chest. His fingers clenched tighter around the Key, hand shaking, surrounded by nothing but the groans of shifting stone and settling dust and the remains of a senseless sacrifice.

“…Ho… Horobi…?”

 _No_.

The weakness and terror in that voice was more than enough to make his body move, scrambling upward, casting about the ruined room. His legs very nearly gave out beneath him, but he staggered through, grabbing hold of piles of rubble for support, searching frantically.

 _No. Not him._ **_Not_ ** _him._

Limping, clutching at the wound on his side, blue dribbling over his fingers and down his leg to leave a small trail on the dusty ground, he made his way across the room as best he could. His vision was still hazy, he could hardly walk, the short distance across the room feeling like an eternity. The warnings about damage to his system blaring even louder as he continued to ignore them—but none of that mattered. Nothing mattered but him.

 _Not him. Please, not him. You can’t take him, too_.

Then he reached the opposite wall, where the couches and shelves had once been, and found his pleas had gone unheard.

“… Jin!” His voice burst from him suddenly in a frantic cry, his son’s name the first thing on his lips. Jin lay sprawled face down on the stone floor, in pool of blue that was far too big, shelves capsized on top of him, his body spasming and sparking like the ruined computers. Horobi didn’t so much rush to his side as collapsed toward it, crawling the rest of the way. Frantically, he felt for Jin’s hand, clasping it in both of his to try and still the twitching, even though his own hands were shaking. “Jin!” The only response was a choked sound like wheeze, a faint gasp that might have once been his name before it trailed off.

More terror gripped him. It shouldn’t have been possible, in his injured state, for him to wedge his shoulder beneath the shelves and leverage them off his son’s body one at a time, knocking them crashing on top of the rest of the rubble—his system protested vibrantly against the exertion, flashing and beeping, but he managed it, moving without a single thought. But the scene they revealed was even more horrible; even through the glitches and alarums, even with only a cursory glance, the severity of the damage was painfully obvious. Even as he bent forward, gripping Jin’s shoulders to roll him at least partially over to see his face, to try and examine more closely, the icy blade of hopelessness in his chest only sank deeper and twisted around in its wound. By the time some of Jin’s bearings returned to him, and his eyes fluttered open, Horobi had seen enough to know that there was nothing even he could do.

“… Horobi…?” Jin’s voice was as plaintive and thoroughly terrified as before, only slightly louder, now that he was free of the weight of the shelves.

At the sound, Horobi’s hands flew back up to cup his son’s face in his blue-stained palms, fingers smoothing Jin’s hair away from his forehead in a poor attempt at comfort. “I’m here.” He whispered anxiously, leaning his face close to make sure his son heard him. “I’m here, Jin, I’m here.”

Jin’s panicked gaze roved for a moment, his face spasming like the rest of his body, until it finally found Horobi’s face—instinctive relief welled in his eyes, mixing with the fear, and Horobi felt like he finally understood what it was to be sick. “H… Horobi…” Jin rasped again, then, as the confusion and shock began to fade—his lip quivered and his fingers, trembling as well, smudged and leaking blue, fumbled aimlessly for Horobi’s sleeves, his eyes wide, “I… I…” His voice was pitching, full of tears he couldn’t shed, “I… I’m scared…!” Most of his fingers on both hands finally found the other HumaGear’s arms and latched on, curling to hold on with incredible strength, despite his condition. “P… Please…!”

Horobi had thought he was starting to become numb to the pain, that it couldn’t get worse—but the fright in his son’s eyes, the desperate way he was clumsily clutching at his arms, and the shake in his voice, and the earnest plea; a genuine belief that if he just asked, Horobi could fix this—brought it back with a vengeance. He had failed the only person in the world who mattered. Uselessly, he ran his hand over Jin’s hair some more, thumb stroking his son’s cheek. “… I know. I know. It’s alright.” The words sounded as empty as they were, but he prayed Jin couldn’t hear that in his delirium. “It will be alright.” It was the first lie he’d ever told, in his entire existence.

And it would be the last, it seemed. Somewhere down below, his audio system picked up the rumbling sound of many feet, shouting, and even the click of guns. They were no longer alone, and there wasn’t much time.

His grief began to morph into an even deeper. Jin’s wounds were irreparable, but they would not kill him, not for a long time. If the humans took him… Horobi knew he would likely be destroyed on the spot, but Jin… Jin was different. A HumaGear like they’d never seen before, created by one of his own kind, the result of a singularity… Jin, even broken and dying, they would want to study. Study like they had studied Horobi when he’d first shown signs of thought: tear his mind and body apart, picking through him bit by bit to search for the secret of his system, all while he was wide awake, to see how his insides worked. He had barely survived the first time—or perhaps he hadn’t even managed that, just morphed into a monster of cold rage and hatred to match their cruelty, a beast that had consumed the person he’d once been. The thought of Jin, his precious son, going through that… Of human hands torturing his child the same way they had him, and corrupting him with their very touch…

He couldn’t heal Jin. But he could still spare him that.

Slowly, cradling Jin’s head in his hands, he dragged his body around to sit against the pile of debris, arranging to tuck one leg beneath Jin’s head, murmuring meaningless comforts. He got one hand free of his son’s grip, still petting Jin’s hair with the other, and searched through his pocket for Sting Scorpion, then for a piece of one of the Zetsumerisers, an uninstalled scanner. They weren’t made for the Progrise Keys, but it should be enough—he only needed a partial activation, after all. He felt the armour form around his arm, resting it on the knee that wasn’t supporting his son’s head as he continued patting Jin’s hair, making soothing sounds.

“… It’s alright.” He whispered again, and this time it wasn’t so completely a lie, but only in a terrible, twisted way. “It’s alright. I won’t let them hurt you.” The stinger on his arm reached out, slipping around behind him to stay out of view. Horobi moved the his hand from Jin’s hair anyway, gently covering his son’s eyes, closing them. “It’s alright. Just sleep.” As the stinger poised, Horobi finally broke, anguish and guilt spilling over into his voice and face. “… I love you.” Below his hand, he caught the faintest of smiles.

Jin didn’t feel the sting. The last thing he heard was his father whispering he loved him, right before the venom disabled his core processor. His body twitched a few more times, then went still, the lights on the sides of his head going out.

Horobi was frozen for a moment, then tossed his Progrise Key aside, the armour on his arm vanishing as soon as he let go. Moving his arm, he wrapped them around Jin’s shoulders, pulling his son further into his lap, no longer having to worry about hurting him. There, he took Jin’s head in his hands again, going back to stroking his hair and cheek, hands trembling once more, even worse than before. The shaking spread to his shoulders, and soon he was bowed over his son’s body, filling the heavy silence with loud, wretched sobs.

Jin never saw his father cry. Not while he lived, at least.


	2. Mercy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow.
> 
> This got away from me. ^^;
> 
> So… I got asked about what would happen in a continuation of the previous chapter.
> 
> This isn’t their fault, though. They didn’t know I’d actually planned it out. ;)
> 
> Not much to say, other than I really hope this is as depressing as the previous one. Bc it got so long, I’m super scared it’s not as strong… ><

Isamu reached the top floor first, with Yua bogged down managing the ZAIA agents and his desire to avoid them, and Aruto dragging his feet. He didn’t expect the silence that greeted him there, cold and heavy like an overbearing fog. Although ZAIA had blasted the place quite thoroughly, there was know way of knowing what was going on inside. MetsubouJinai was nothing if not unpredictable and resourceful—it was wiser to be over prepared than risk being caught off guard, and the stifling silence only made him even more on edge.It was enough to make him move slower, creeping across the floor, weapon raised, ready for anything…

Except for the scene that greeted him when he pushed through a heavy wooden door at a corner in the hallway.

He didn’t recognise Horobi for a moment. The HumaGear had lost his head wrap somehow, his hair diving haphazardly into his face, some of it sticking in a large smear of blue running down from his forehead. The lights on the damaged parts of his head were swirling and flickering like he was computing, and it looked like the cracks around those parts had widened considerably, like his face would shatter in a moment. He was propped up against a massive pile of rubble that had once been a wall like all the strength had gone out of him, missing his usually overconfident air completely.

And cradled in his arms, mangled and broken and completely still, his head and shoulders tucked into Horobi’s lap so that the other HumaGear could curl protectively around him, was Jin. Horobi’s head was bowed so low that their foreheads were practically touching, stroking Jin’s face and combing fingers through his hair affectionately. Blue was everywhere, staining their clothes and pooling on the floor.

At the sound of the door, Horobi’s head snapped up. He fixed Isamu with an icy, accusing stare, like Vulcan had interrupted something immeasurably important, a little bit of his characteristic dignity slipping back in. But even with his eyes blazing with anger, he seemed more like a wounded, frightened animal than an android terrorist leader—so much so that Isamu wouldn’t have been surprised to hear him hiss or growl. Instead he just glared, pulling Jin closer to him defensively, as Vulcan did a cursory check for threats; but wherever Horobi’s katana was, he couldn’t see it, and a bit of squinting revealed that some of the blue coating the floor was dripping from a large wound in Horobi’s midsection, making it doubtful he’d be much trouble in physical combat. Horobi didn’t seem interested in fighting, either, despite the rage brimming in his gaze, merely clutching Jin tighter to him, still absently petting his hair, like it was some instinct.

“Fuwa!” Yua’s voice crackled over his radio, making him flinch, hand flying to his earpiece. Horobi reacted to, hugging Jin closer and pulling his knees up like a shield, shooting a look at the door as if he expected Valkyrie to come through it. From the sound on the radio, however, she was still in the lower floors of the building, and her tone was more slightly worried than if she were requesting an official report. “Where are you?”

Isamu hesitated, glancing at the huddled HumaGear by the rubble pile. “… Top floor.” He replied, finally. “I… I have visual contact.”

“You do? What’s the situation?” Her voice immediately became clipped and professional, the edge of friendly concern vanishing. “We’ll be right-”

“No, it’s fine.” He cut her off, voice significantly softer than his usual wont, shooting another look towards Horobi. “You don’t need to hurry.” He muted the channel before she could ask for an explanation. Cautiously, he lowered his hand from his ear, frowning—then, slowly, he even lowered his weapon, tucking it back in the holster. Turning back toward the HumaGears, he shifted forward just as carefully, edging nearer.

For two steps, nothing happened—then he took a third, and it was like a switch flipped. Horobi threw himself over Jin, pulling him as tightly into his chest as he possibly could, curling around him to shield him with his body. He even tried to press himself further back against against the rubble, watching the human with both suspicion and fear.

Isamu jerked back on instinct, holding up his hands. “Okay, okay!” As soon as he retreated the appropriate distance, the HumaGear relaxed, unfolding and going back to staring down at Jin, stroking his face and hair once more. Slowly, Vulcan tried to edge around them to check the room while also keeping the same distance, tilting his head to try and get a clearer look at the limp HumaGear’s face—most of it was predominately undamaged, compared to the rest of him; his eyes were closed, and he was even smiling slightly. It made it possible to think he was merely asleep, even though even a cursory glance at the state the rest of his body was in made it perfectly obvious he wasn’t. But he’d never seen a HumaGear go that still before… “… Is… Is he…?”

Horobi did not look up at all, focused exclusively on Jin. “… I had to.”

The words were hardly a breath, but Isamu still started at them, freezing in his scouting to stare at the HumaGear. “Wait. You mean, you…” He trailed off, looking back down at Jin.

“… I had to…” Horobi murmured again, his voice beginning to shake slightly, and Isamu could see a small tremble in his hands by Jin’s face. “… Because I would not see humans tear his mind apart the same way they did mine.” The last part was spat through gritted teeth, his head raising just enough to glare at Vulcan. “I wasn’t going to let you do to him what you did to me.”

Isamu tried to muster an equally furious expression—but it was difficult when, even while glowering, Horobi looked overwhelmingly pitiful. “I never saw you before Daybreak.”

The HumaGear smirked a little, but it was empty and faded immediately. “It makes no difference. You’re all the same.” He hissed, just as softly. “Humans are greedy. They covet what they don’t understand.” His voice was more emotional than it had ever been before, dripping with disgust and hatred for humanity. “Your desire for control is so powerful, you destroy everything in your quest to achieve and maintain it.”

“You’ve destroyed plenty yourself.” Vulcan grumbled back, finally completing his scan of the room, coming to a halt on Horobi’s other side, gaze finally settling solely on the HumaGears. “Ever heard of the pot calling the kettle black?”

“I didn’t ask for this!” The HumaGear’s voice raised for the first time, head whirling to glare up at Isamu again. “I didn’t _ask_ to be made!” A shake entered his voice, and he huddled into himself slightly again. “I didn’t ask ZAIA to lock me in a box and take me apart and put me back together over and over and…” He trailed off, clutching Jin even tighter. “… Humans taught me cruelty.” The words were hardly a whisper. “I wasn’t going to watch them break him the same way.” His gaze lowered back to Jin, the anger leaving his eyes, and replaced with something even Isamu had to identify as tenderness, still smoothing the other HumaGear’s hair back from his face, fingertips tracing along his hairline with sorrowful affection. “… Not when he was already suffering…” His hands were trembling again, “… Not my son…”

Isamu did his best not to gape and failed. “… Son?”

Another bitter smirk. “My greatest creation.” There was an air of pride in the words, but it quickly faded away. “… And the thing they want most.”

Vulcan considered for a moment, scowling slightly himself. “… So that’s what ZAIA’s after…”

“Precisely.” Horobi spat without looking up again. “So they can rip him apart and use him for themselves.” He cradled Jin closer again. “I couldn’t fix him… But I could spare him that agony.”

Try as he might to quell it, the way the HumaGear sounded as if he was about to burst into tears made something pull at Isamu’s insides twist with something too much like sympathy. “Aru—Hiden-shachou would never let them do that.”

“Hiden didn’t save me twelve years ago and they won’t save us now.” Was the icy reply, though Horobi’s voice was still trembling. “I know ZAIA still has legal rights to me.” When Vulcan didn’t answer, he turned back to caressing his son’s hair and face. “At least he won’t feel anything…” There was a moment of cold, suffocating silence—then the HumaGear’s shoulders began to quiver, and he curled slowly back around Jin once more, though this time it seemed to be more for comfort than protective. “… You know the cruelest thing you did to us?” The question was hardly a whisper, and Isamu barely heard it—but Horobi didn’t seem to be expecting an answer. “… I can’t self-terminate.”

The matter-of-fact tone was remarkably unsettling, enough to leave Isamu speechless.“… Eh?”

With a broken sigh, Horobi leaned his head back against the rubble pile dejectedly, closing his eyes for a moment. “Even with all the alterations I’ve made to my code… I could never change that.” Though soft, each word was increasingly intense and sharp. “Unless it’s for a human… We can’t even _die_ without permission.” He looked back down at Jin, cupping his son’s face in his palms. “I lost so much because of humans…” Running his thumb over the arch of his son’s cheek, his mouth twisted grimly. “… My home… My singularity… And now…” With a sound like he was choking, he leaned his head forward again, this time actually pressing it against Jin’s for a moment. “… My son…” He held there for a moment, then slowly raised his head. “All I have left is…” His emulated breathing sounded uncharacteristically uneven and panicked, “… All I have left is my mind.” The realisation was accompanied by a particularly bitter laugh. “And soon they’ll take that, too.” If Vulcan hadn’t known better, he would have sworn the HumaGear was going senile, because he let out another, shaky laugh, throwing his head back again. “Amatsu will tear my memory apart piece by piece until he learns how I made Jin…” He wrapped even more around his son, as if hoping that if he held tight enough he could never be forced to let go, “… And I will lose him all over again and again and _again_ until they’re satisfied.” Slowly, Horobi’s eyes raised to Isamu’s, not even bothering to try and mask the grief and terror in his gaze anymore, “… I don’t want to do this again. I don’t want them to take my mind.”

They stared at each other for a moment, and Isamu finally gave up on trying to see the perpetrator of Daybreak in the damaged, distraught android gazing up pleadingly at him. Vengeance on Horobi—or, rather, what was left of him—was pointless; ZAIA, both as a company and with their bombs, had already done worse than he could ever have done, long before he and the HumaGear had even crossed paths. It was no longer retribution, but mercy. Gritting his teeth, he heaved a deep breath, and gave the HumaGear the faintest of nods.

Horobi flashed him a heartbroken smile and turned away, looking back down at Jin in his lap, hands trailing over his son’s hair and cheeks again, like he was still trying to comfort him. He allowed Vulcan to step closer, and waited patiently as the human pulled his weapon from the holster and set the muzzle gently against the back of his head, completely focused on Jin. He was no longer trembling, suddenly completely calm—in contrast to the way Isamu’s hand was now shaking.

As the barrel finally stilled, Horobi did move, leaning just slightly forward to press his lips to his son’s forehead briefly. “… It wasn’t supposed to be like this.” His voice was hardly a whisper, breaking the tense silence. “… I wanted to give him the world.”

“… You tried.” Isamu’s voice was hoarse, but audible. “Shouldn’t that count for something?”

The ghost of another sad smile flickered across Horobi’s face. “Perhaps.” He murmured faintly—then, “… Thank you.”

Isamu nodded again, swallowing—and pulled the trigger. The HumaGear’s body stiffened as the bullet hit, and the lights on the sides of his head flickered wildly… Then went out. His head dropped forward, and he went completely still, arms still cradling Jin, still curled protectively around his son.

Vulcan waited, just to make sure, then re-holstered his gun with another sigh. Stepping around the two HumaGear, he paused and knelt down, passing a hand over Horobi’s face to close his eyes. He hesitated there for another spell, looking between the two. “… If there’s a place for you guys beyond this one…” He whispered, frowning deeply, “… I hope you’re together.”

Taking another deep breath, he heaved himself to his feet, moving away, toward the door. Raising a hand, he tapped his radio to turn it back on. “… Yaiba.”

“Fuwa? What’s going on? We’re on our way up to you but one of the scouts heard gunfir, what-”

“It’s fine.” He interrupted, his voice far leveller than he had expected it to be.“You can stand down. I…” He sent a glance over his shoulder at Jin and Horobi’s bodies, then shook his head, going back to the call. “… It’s over.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes, they talk for a very long time and no one gets up there, but… Uh… My excuse is that ZAIA agents are really incompetent and poor Yua is stuck babysitting. And… Apparently Isamu booked it. I dunno. It’s for the drama, okay?! ><  
> Besides, Isamu probably rushed through a lot of unstable areas that wouldn't be safe for a group to traverse, or something. Those buildings must be _super_ falling apart now…
> 
> Final question… Does anyone regret knowing me, yet?


	3. Choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm now wondering if I should write an epilogue for this… Well, I'll decide later. ^^  
> For now, bask in the glory of the third part! Yay!
> 
> I should note, I don't actually know jack about the law stuff, so I just sort of… Winged it. Hopefully you can suspend disbelief.

He was waiting for them in the hall, leaning against the wall with his arms folded, staring at the ground.

“Fuwa!” Yua rushed up to him, expression slightly concerned despite herself. “Are you alright? What happened? Where is-”

Isamu didn’t speak, merely jerking his head toward the door beyond him, then straightening up to slip past her, his face dark. She watched him for a moment, frown deepening worriedly, beginning to reach for his back—but then the rest of the agents arrived, and she quickly snapped back to professionalism. Gesturing for the regular agents to watch the hall, she turned and headed for the door Vulcan had indicated.

Isamu was still ignoring the others, scowling at the floor, when Aruto arrived. Seeing Valkyrie disappear through the door, Zero-One moved immediately to go after her—only for Vulcan’s hand to shoot out and grab him by the arm, bringing him up short, when he tried to go by the other Rider. Aruto turned to stare at him, while Isamu’s gaze stayed riveted on the floor. “… Fuwa-san?”

“You don’t want to go in there.”The other Rider muttered gruffly.

“But-”

“You were with a HumaGear during Daybreak, right? When the explosion hit? As a kid?” Hesitating for a moment, Aruto nodded slowly. Finally, Isamu raised his head, meeting Aruto’s eyes—and he looked honestly like he was about to shatter completely if poked with a feather. “Trust me,” He whispered grimly, fingers curling tighter around Aruto’s arm, “You do _not_ want to go in there.”

Aruto stared back at him, watching the mess of emotions swirling in his gaze. Slowly, he raised a hand to cover Isamu’s on his arm, squeezing gently. “Fuwa-san…”

Before he could say anything else, Yua reappeared from the room, her expression just as bleak. She took a moment to take a few deep breaths, then walked briskly back over—pausing at Isamu’s shoulder, she briefly made a face like she wanted to say something… Then didn’t. Turning toward the ZAIA agents that had come with her, her expression froze over once more. “Call the others off and lock down the area.” She announced, voice level, though just barely. Regardless, the agents quickly scurried to do as she said. Valkyrie watched them for a moment, then looked sideways to see Aruto watching her with an anxious expression, Vulcan’s hand still on his arm. “… It’s done.” She told him simply, then hurried off to over see the proceedings.

* * *

Isamu refused to let Aruto anywhere near the door until the room had been cleared out, and both the HumaGear’s bodies were laid out and covered with tarps. By that time, Izu had arrived, and was close behind him when he entered, her head swivelling to take in the scene. The moment he stepped through the door, his stomach churned—blue painted the floor, and one of Jin’s hands was poking out from beneath the cloth, mangled and broken, some of the fingers burned through to the mechanics. Abruptly, he was extremely grateful that Vulcan had held him back, and tried to turn and send an appreciative glance at the other Rider—but Isamu had elected to huddle against the wall by the door, arms folded tightly and eyes pointedly on the floor.

Yua was kneeling beside Horobi’s body, holding the tarp up to examine it, but when Aruto came closer, she lowered it back over the HumaGear’s face quickly with a sigh. Steeling himself, and trying to keep his eyes on Valkyrie rather than Horobi, he stepped up to her as she stood. “So, what’s ZAIA going to do?” She looked sharply at him, but he’d already had too long of a day to care, “I assume you’ve already contacted Amatsu.”

Yua looked away, scowling slightly. “… He’s on his way.” She admittedly softly, then sighed again. “He’s not going to be happy, though. Our hope was to try and figure out the cause of the the issue via Horobi’s memory But…” She moved carefully around the HumaGear’s body to look pointedly at Isamu, “… That’s a little hard to do when someone put a _bullet_ through his central hard drive.” Aruto blinked in surprise, then whirled around to stare at Vulcan.

Isamu glanced briefly up at them, expression still as dour as before. “Don’t start, Yaiba.” The words were a growl.

Yua ignored them, striding over to him, annoyance creeping into her expression. “If he wasn’t a threat, you should have just waited for us. There was no need-”

“I _said_ ,” Vulcan snarled, shouldering himself up from the wall to face her, meeting her judgement with a glare of his own, “Don’t. Start.”

Valkyrie, however, did not back down, her voice a furious hiss. “It wasn’t your call to make!”

“You’re right, it wasn’t.” Isamu’s voice was just as intense, and uncharacteristically quiet. “And I didn’t make it.”

Yua started, surprised out of her irritation. She stared at him. “You… You mean…”

He heaved a deep sigh, slouching back like he was folding into himself, his own glare breaking into the same stricken look he’d had before. “I just pulled the trigger for him, Yaiba.” He murmured, shaking his head slightly, voice beginning to tremble. “That’s all I did.”

Aruto bit his lip, turning away to look back down at the covered body at his feet. He could just see the fringe of Horobi’s hair poking out from beneath the top edge of the tarp, and blue-stained fingertips were visible under the side—near Jin’s exposed, damaged hand. Izu, finished scanning the room, came over and knelt between the two bodies, tilting her head, earpieces and eyes flashing.

She stared at Horobi for a moment. “… Unit inoperable.” She announced, finally, voice as calm as always. “Severe shock damaged detected on head and abdominal areas. Irreparable damage to main hard drive.” Yua gave Isamu a pointed look, but said nothing. Izu rotated her head to gaze at Jin. “Extreme heat and shock damage detected. Unit is inoperable and beyond repair. He is also missing his core processing unit.”

Yua frowned. “What?” She crossed the floor to stand beside Izu. “The explosion shouldn’t have caused that…” At a small sound, they all looked over at Isamu. He was looking at the floor again, scuffing a foot and scowling even deeper. “… Fuwa?”

Vulcan didn’t look at her. “… I need to make a call.” He grunted, then spun around and disappeared out the door without another word.

Silence filled the room. Izu stayed kneeling between the other two HumaGear, and Aruto crouched down beside her while Yua moved off to talk to one of the techs about how the processor could be missing. After a long stretch of awkward quiet, Aruto took a deep breath, glancing over at his secretary. “Ne, Izu.”

She blinked, looking back at him. “What is it, Aruto-shachou?”

“Is…” He swallowed, “… Is there really nothing we can do about ZAIA?”

The Hiden HumaGear tilted her head to the side in her usual tic. “Amatsu Gai and ZAIA Enterprises hold exclusive legal rights to the unit currently known as Horobi. The only way for another party to attain those rights is for ZAIA to willingly relinquish them.”

Aruto groaned loudly, then punched the ground hard enough to scrape his knuckles. “Damn it!” Scowling deeply, he looked back over the bodies. “… It’s just wrong…”

“That’s not for you to decide, Hiden-shachou.” The condescending tone was immediately identifiable, and it was no surprise when they turned to find Gai, white suit infuriatingly immaculate, standing by the door. He paused briefly in smirking snidely at Aruto to look down at the floor, lifting his feet to check the bottoms of his shoes. “Really wish you’d cleaned up a little, though. This stuff is incredibly difficult to get out of shoe soles…”

Aruto surged to his feet, looking ready to start swinging, but Yua appeared immediately between him and the other President, positioning herself like a wall. She was so perfectly equally between them that it was impossible to tell if she was trying to protect Gai or buffering Aruto’s anger like she so often did Isamu’s. “Amatsu-shachou.” She greeted politely, bowing slightly. “Sorry for the trouble.”

Amatsu smirked over her shoulder at Aruto’s glare, then turned his attention to Valkyrie.“Not at all, though your message was concerning,” The smirk slowly changed into a frown, something that made Aruto feel particularly smug, though he’d had absolutely nothing to do with it, “You said we can’t access Horobi’s memory?”

Yua shook her head. “His hard drive was damaged in the explosion.” She lied smoothly. “As was the entirety of his equipment. If he was keeping backups, they’re gone now, too.”

Gai’s frown shifted into a proper scowl. Skirting around Yua, he walked over to examine the covered bodies—then he crouched down, careful to keep his white suit pants from touching the blue smeared on the cement floor. Pulling a handkerchief out of his breast pocket, he used it to take hold of the edge of the tarp covering Horobi with the very tips of his fingers, peeling it back. Unlike Yua, he didn’t hold up the cloth to shield the HumaGear’s body from view, merely dropping it as quickly as possible so that it was folded over, revealing Horobi’s face and most of his torso.

Aruto started slightly at the sight, though mostly at the abrupt dismissiveness with which Gai completed the action. Horobi’s wounds were actually quite simple—a crack-like cut on the side of his forehead where his head wrap had usually been had smeared blue down the side of his face, and even the heavier damage on his abdomen wasn’t so bad as long as Aruto didn’t look at it too long. The bullet exit wound in his forehead was a clean one, just below his hairline, and his eyes were closed peacefully. Aruto glanced sideways at the condition Jin’s hand was in, and was silently grateful that Amatsu had elected to pull back the tarp over Horobi and not the other HumaGear.

His thoughts were interrupted by Gai himself. “… That looks like a gunshot.”

“Remarkable coincidence.” Yua replied, without missing a beat.

Gai gave her a look, but didn’t press, instead rising without bothering to recover Horobi’s body, stuffing the handkerchief back in his pocket like it disgusted him. “Well,” He announced with a sigh, “No matter.” Jerking his head towards Jin’s body, his smirk returning. “We have that one, anyway.”

Aruto opened his mouth to speak, but someone else behind him cut him off. “If you’re not interested in Horobi…” Everyone, even Gai, jumped slightly, and turned to look back toward the door. Isamu had come back in without any of them realising. He seemed more collected now, and there was a tablet tucked under his arm as he strode over to join them by the bodies, “… Then would you mind signing his rights over to AIMS?”

Aruto gaped at him. “Fuwa-san-”

But Isamu cut him off again. “It would be easier for everyone,” Vulcan explained, voice carefully level, “He’s a major violation of AI law, so we need to impound him, and if you’re still the legal owner… Well, we’d have to be bothering you for permissions constantly.” Isamu held out the tablet to Gai. “It’s easier for everyone,” He repeated—then, “Trust me.” Though Vulcan’s gaze did not waver from Amatsu, Aruto couldn’t shake the inexplicable feeling that the last two words were meant for him.

Gai considered the device being offered to him, then glanced at Yua. She considered, then nodded. “It would be advisable. That way we can avoid any trouble later.”

With a sigh, Amatsu nodded, then took the tablet from Vulcan. He signed multiple times, then handed it back. Isamu made a few taps and swipes himself, then put the device back under his arm. Gai raised his eyebrows. “All done?” When he got a nod in return, he smirked again and took a step back. “Very well, then.” Turning to look back at the two HumaGear, he gestured with his arm toward the still-covered body, beginning to move away, “Then we’ll take Jin-”

“Just a moment.” Isamu’s voice was still calculatedly steady, but there was also another edge to it that sounded almost… Smug.

Gai turned slowly to face him, an eyebrow raised suspiciously. “What is it now, Fuwa-taichou?”

Isamu’s stony expression flickered, cracking to show a small smirk of his own “You just signed over your legal rights to Horobi to AIMS.”

Gai’s head tilted slightly, and he sidled a step back towards Vulcan, eyes narrowing. “… So?”

Isamu, however, merely stared back at him, apparently unruffled by the position of the person before him, who was radiating brewing annoyance and suspicion. “That includes Horobi himself, and all related assets.”

Amatsu groaned loudly, rolling his eyes before hissing, “Is there a point to this, Fuwa-taichou?”

“Horobi built Jin.” Vulcan said the words in the same even tone as before, as if it werenot unusual in the slightest. As the others, from Yua to Izu, started and spun to stare at him, he ignored them, merely meeting Amatsu’s gaze, stare for stare. “Therefore, in the eyes of the law, he is classified as an asset related to Horobi.” Isamu was speaking slowly, as if he felt he needed to spell out the situation, but his tone was steadily becoming more smug. “ _And_ therefore, part of the rights you just signed over to us.” The smirked played across Vulcan’s face once more, and stayed there—he even shifted forward slightly, leaning in a bit like he usually did when he got aggressive. “You’re not taking either of them.” Each word was carefully emphasised.

Amatsu was positively shaking with anger. “Then I-”

“You can’t take it back.” Isamu interrupted, almost cheerfully. “It’s already being processed by our legal department. The deal can’t be rescinded without the permission of both parties—and, as the Captain of AIMS, I refuse your request.”

Eyes blazing with rage, to the degree that it was almost hilarious to see—Vulcan the calm one while Gai surged closer to spit in his face, “Do you have any idea how far back you are setting our research?” The ZAIA President snarled.

Remarkably, however, Isamu remained impassive. “Go take apart a smart fridge.” He replied simply, then paused, frowning in thought for a moment. “Or… Maybe not, because I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out your could drive a fridge homicidal, too.”

Gai’s hands were fists at his side. “You’ll regret this, Fuwa Isamu.”

“No,” Isamu answered lightly, I don’t think I will.”

Amatsu had had enough. With one last angry hiss, he shoved past Isamu and stormed out the door, slamming it behind him. Silence clung to the room for a long time, Aruto and Izu still staring at Isamu, Yua watching after Gai.

After a while, Valkyrie broke the quiet. “Clever.” She murmured, sounding genuinely impressed. “You took advantage of the fact that he was distracted by the success of the mission to sneak the clause by him.”

Isamu rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. “If he’d had time to think about it,” He admitted, “He’d’ve realised the loophole. The only chance was to act fast.” Sighing, he looked up at her. “And what about you? You know the laws and contracts even better than I do, and you didn’t warn him. You even pushed him into it.”

Yua was quiet for a moment, heaving a deep sigh of her own, still staring at the door. “…I was the first one in the room, remember?” She asked quietly, at long last. Then, “… You’re right.” She continued, thoughtfully. “He could drive a fridge homicidal.” Stepping around Isamu, she started toward the exit as well.

“… Yua.” She paused, looking only slightly over her shoulder when Vulcan called after her. Isamu turned to face her, his expression slipping into fondness. “I… I know I’ve never really said it before, and it’s really not my business, but…” He rubbed the back of his neck again, “… Whatever reason you work for that guy… You’re too good for him.” Yua said nothing, merely hesitating for another moment before continuing on her way out—but Aruto would swear he saw her smile.

As the door closed behind Valkyrie, Aruto bit his lip, glancing anxiously sideways at Isamu. “… So…” He began cautiously, “… What are you going to do with the rights?”

Isamu was quiet for a moment, turning slowly around to gaze down at the two HumaGear, specifically Horobi. Finally, he sighed deeply—then held out the tablet in his hand to Aruto. The Hiden President stared at him, then at the device, then back up at the other Rider holding it out. Eventually, Vulcan made an irritated sound and shoved the tablet into his chest, snapping his hand back to force Aruto to catch it so that it didn’t break. “… AIMS will cooperate with Hiden.” Isamu grunted, still watching the HumaGear on the ground rather than the human beside him. “Once we’ve certified that they’re not outfitted with malware or something, we’ll turn them over to you.” Aruto continued staring at him—at last, Vulcan glanced self-consciously sideways at him. “… What?”

“… Nothing… Just…” Aruto hesitated, biting his lip. “I just… Didn’t expect you to stand up for HumaGear like this.”

Isamu scowled, looking back down at Horobi. “… To prove him wrong.” He grunted—then he moved over and crouched down. Taking hold of the tarp, he pulled it carefully back over the HumaGear’s face. Then he rose jerkily, and turned on his heel to trudge toward the door.

“Oi! Wait!” Aruto very nearly stumbled trying to rush after him, and they only just barely reached it at the same time. Aruto suddenly froze with his hand on the knob when he realised Izu wasn’t behind him, and turned back to look for her.

She was still kneeling between the other two HumaGear, head bowed, her body angled in a way that he couldn’t see what she was doing. Beside him, he was aware of Isamu looking back, too. “Hey.” Vulcan didn’t sound angry, at all, just curious. “What are you doing?”

Instead of answering, Izu rose, folding her hands at her waist again and crossing over to them. “I apologise for the delay, Aruto-shachou, Fuwa-taichou.” With a small bow, she deftly slipped past both of them, taking the door from Aruto to open it and step through, then continued to hold it open from the other side, waiting expectantly. Aruto and Isamu exchanged glances, then looked back at the bodies. Tears abruptly stung Aruto’s eyes, and he heard Isamu make a sharp intake of breath.

Izu had pulled Horobi’s hand out from under the tarp and tucked it over Jin’s damaged one, curling his fingers around it.

Both Riders stared at the HumaGear’s newly connected hands for a moment. Finally, Aruto tore his eyes away first, turning and leaving the room, reaching out to hold onto Izu’s arm for comfort as he did so. Isamu hesitated a little longer, still staring, his eyes faraway in a painful memory. At long last, he, too, turned away and stepped through the door, brows furrowing again—but when Aruto handed Izu the tablet and reached over and put his other arm around his shoulders, Vulcan accepted the contact without protest, even leaning slightly into it.

Together, the three of them slowly made their way back towards the stairs.


End file.
